Pods going wild!!!

Fink · Jul 29, 2022

I know this has been posted several times in the past, but it is CRAZY how many pods are in my tank during a fallow period. I didn't realize how much work my coris wrasse was doing... Only been 18 days, not sure what's gonna happen in the next 4 weeks

Hopefully they don't take a liking to my coral and start munching.

With this level of pod population... maybe I should get a dragonet... I had a scooter blenny in the past, and I could rarely get him to eat so he eventually starved... maybe with this level of pods I could try again....

Tired · Jul 29, 2022

Copepods or amphipods? Copepods (at least, the ones we get) eat detritus and phyto, they won't touch corals. Amphipods may nibble corals if there's a ton of big ones, especially if the coral is stressed.

How big is the tank? Mandarins eat hundreds of copepods a day, specifically copepods.

If you had a scooter blenny starve, you shouldn't put a mandarin in there without making big changes. /Especially/ with a coris wrasse in the tank also. A coris wrasse is the epitome of competition for a mandarin.

Cheezle · Jul 29, 2022

Arent pods awesome? Idk why but pods are one of my favorite things about my tank. I love adding a bag of pods from my LFS and seeing my mandarin get all fat. Seeing them so active at night is always crazy to see as we. If you got the pods then I say get a dragonet!

Also shameless plugging my fat little bullseye

undermind · Jul 29, 2022

Yeah one of those other "pods are going crazy" threads is mine

. I had a 76 day fallow period and the pods went nuts in the absence of predators. Believe it or not I lost a lot of Zoanthids during that period. I kept the tank fed regularly but the amphipods still trampled the zoa's to the point that they just wouldn't open anymore.

When you mention that you're thinking of adding a Mandarin, do you mean now? Or after the fallow period?

I think we drastically underestimate how much a dragonet eats. They eat around the clock, and don't stop. I love Dragonets but I go to great lengths to keep the one I have fed. I have a pod-focused refugium and I culture pods to add them regularly. And I STILL don't think my dragonet eats what he should in his 100g.

I don't think there's a correlation with seeing a lot of pods and knowing you have enough to sustain a dragonet over time. A steady supply of added pods is necessary IMO. Or train it to eat frozen.